What Is The Date? So, what does a “Date“ returned from a web site or book for your Savage rifle actually mean? Well, what it means varies by time periods. The ledgers record different things over time, and we use the “best” dates that we have for each year.
* 1895 – fall of 1926 : The dates returned above are the date the rifles probably was finished and accepted from the factory. From there it would have been stored and ready to ship. Any given rifle might be finished months or even a year+ later than the average rifle in that serial number range, though.
* Fall of 1926 – December, 1968 : The dates in this serial range are when the rifles were shipped from the factory. Savage Arms no longer recorded the accepted from factory dates in the ledgers. Rifles weren’t always shipped in order, and some models/chamberings sold better than others and thus sat in the shipping dept longer. So these dates can vary even more than the accepted from factory dates for the “average” ship time. Any given rifle might be shipped months or years after the average rifle in that serial number range.
* December, 1968 – 2001+ : Dates for rifles in this time frame are dates that serial numbers were stamped on the receivers during the manufacturing process. These dates are very accurate for that manufacturing step, but may not reflect when the rifle was fully finished or shipped.
* Commemorative 99s : Dates for the 75th Anniversary 1895, the 99CE and 99RMEF are accurate for the year. Each model was only offered for a year.
Dating with the Savage Date Codes 1949 – 1970
From sometime in 1949 through 1970, Savage Arms and Stevens stamped a date code on almost all firearms. On Savage 99’s it is on the front of the lever above the serial number, and is a letter inside an oval stamp preceded by 1 or 2 numbers. The numbers indicate the inspector, and the letter indicates the year. This date code is on 99’s only from 1949 to 1970, and is always preceded by numbers. In 1949 the date code was A, and it increased each year skipping O and Q. A few 1971 rifles have a Y stamp, but most rifles in 1971 don’t have one. Many consider these date codes more accurate than using serial number ranges, though we’ve seen some odd examples.
1956 Date Code: 
Lettering A Savage 1895 / 1899 /99
To letter a specific Savage rifle to get dates and other information, you can write to the wonderful folks at the Cody Center Of The West Museum. They received the old Savage ledgers in the fall of 2020 – but they don’t have records for ALL Savage rifles. So check the list of serial number ranges that they can search and letter before sending your money.
The ledgers are.. interesting.. and the Cody folks will tell you exactly what’s in it for your rifle. What they won’t do is interpret the ledgers to tell you the model if the model isn’t recorded. And the model is never recorded for 1895’s and 1899’s unless it’s a special named grade 1899 – and even then they might not have written it down.
That is because Savage Arms never assigned model letters until the 99’s came out in 1921. The 1895 and 1899 model names that we use now (1899A, 1899C, 1899F, etc) are based on the first letter of the telegraph codes used to order that configuration, and were coined by Douglas Murray in his book “The Ninety-Nine” in the 1970’s. So determining your 1895 or 1899 “model” means interpreting the ledger data. For help determining your 1895 or 1899 model, refer to my book or the internet forums on the “Contact” page.
If you have multiple firearms you’d like to letter, check into joining the Center of the West Museum as a member. Heck, consider joining even if you don’t have multiple rifles to letter, it’s a worthwhile organization. But it is far more economical to get searches and letters as a member than buying multiple letters as a non-member.
Start your Center Of The West letter request here:
https://centerofthewest.org/explore/firearms/firearms-records/